i know!

i have to write about the bahamian adventure.

but for now, the nytimes takes on manure. and the l.a. times reports that food banks are getting their goods straight from the farm. that means the impoverished there are eating better than most americans.

i went to the union square greenmarket today and bought an enormous bag of seckel pears and small apples for $2, tomatoes (grown indoors, so we can have them in the winter!), eggs, yogurt, rutabaga (my first!), purple potatoes, yellow + orange + purple carrots, sunflower-wheat bread, collard greens, and sunflower spouts. seriously, kids, you would think it was summer. it was that good.

lastly, i am getting too much food information from twitter. it's a love/hate relationship.

the thanks.

thanks, tina, for the gift i received at thanksgiving. an ice-cold glass bottle full of dr pepper made with pure cane sugar from sugar land, texas. enough said.

until then.

i am going on vacation tomorrow and didn't buy many groceries this week. i have had a whiskey-filled last few days, which probably should have included more dinner, but the holiday parties are just that way. and kim had me over for dinner on tuesday to eat goodies from her csa winter share!

therefore, i think this meal is from monday. a stir-fry of acorn squash, broccoli, baby cauliflower, scallion, and maybe some bell pepper. i really like any meal that goes in a bowl, it seems.

ready for the bahamas. for a week, we will be in andros: rustic, undeveloped, and beautiful. i am SO ready.

BUT. in case you want something to read, go here. the nytimes explains that going meatless isn't all that bad. and the ladies in southern alabama make 15-layer cakes every christmas. and you can keep up with any food recalls on the fda site; it's not pretty, though. there are way too many.

alright, kids. over and out.

sunday funday.

let's start with the post-farmers' market breakfast. this might have been my last visit to the market for the year, and, hence, the season. it was raining; thank god for the super baby cauliflowers. they really made it worth the walk.

fresh baguette with a fried egg, sharp cheddar, and tomato. and, fingerling potatoes in olive oil, garlic, and scallions. i cut my finger while i was cooking these awesome potatoes and let the scallions and garlic sit in the hot oil for too long. it smelled like an onion bagel, thankfully.

and then, project 2.0: infused tequila. tracy and i are infusing two jars of tequila: one with cinnamon and one with chiles. the chile one will be ready tomorrow, and the cinnamon will be complete in a week. we used a 750ml bottle of tequila blanca and split it. so, we'll see... but we are super excited. if this goes well, we might infuse all sorts of things. fancy cocktails abound.

smaller is sweeter.

the best finds this week: baby cauliflower and carrots. so sweet.

newsworthy.

• manhattan borough president scott stringer wrote the nyc food charter: 10 principles for a sustainable food system. so cool. let's be progressive, new york.
  
• city council speaker christine quinn has a new food policy, too. she's ready to get beyond the issues of trans-fats and sugary soda taxes. or that's what she says. i am skeptical, but unsure why.
  
• and everything that we thought was true... monsanto is a monopoly, says ap.
  

  Confidential contracts detailing Monsanto Co.'s business practices reveal how the world's biggest seed developer is squeezing competitors, controlling smaller seed companies and protecting its dominance over the multibillion-dollar market for genetically altered crops, an Associated Press investigation has found.

  With Monsanto's patented genes being inserted into roughly 95 percent of all soybeans and 80 percent of all corn grown in the U.S., the company also is using its wide reach to control the ability of new biotech firms to get wide distribution for their products, according to a review of several Monsanto licensing agreements and dozens of interviews with seed industry participants, agriculture and legal experts.

  Declining competition in the seed business could lead to price hikes that ripple out to every family's dinner table. That's because the corn flakes you had for breakfast, soda you drank at lunch and beef stew you ate for dinner likely were produced from crops grown with Monsanto's patented genes.

there will be trifle.

tracy and i are into projects. all of a sudden. in the final gourmet magazine, we found a recipe for a pumpkin gingerbread trifle. we had to make a date to bake it, which allowed me to indulge and purchase a trifle dish. there are three parts: gingerbread, pumpkin mousse, and whipped cream.
there was so much gingerbread that we had leftovers, which was lovely. and the whipped cream was like eating a cloud of wonderment. really. and it was even more beautiful than it is in any of the photos.

and i will give you the recipe if you want it. but it's long, and so i didn't want to type it unless it was necessary.

and, then.

the economist is debating food policy. go here.

better than.

this was most definitely from last saturday, when i was still making my way through all the arborio rice. i sauteed it with some broccoli and garlic, concocted a little salad of tomato and mozzarella, and fried an egg. after i flipped it and cooked it to perfection, i put it on the slice of grain bread with spicy mustard and let the whole thing sit in the pan for a minute or so. i eventually folded it in half to eat like a sandwich, with all the yolky wonderment running out of it. delightful.

it was better than the picture suggests. really.

easy like sunday morning.

yes, this was sunday morning breakfast. it's usually better at my house than in a restaurant. i am serious. the farmers' market is just so good to me, coupled with the natural food store nearby.

ready? black beans with garlic, onion, and chard. yukon gold potato sauteed with garlic and sea salt. organic tomato. fried egg. blue sesame corn chips. hell on the red salsa.

yee. haw.

prime breakfast.

tracy and i were both awake and hungry at the same time last sunday, and i had just returned from the farmers' market (which goes until the end of december, thankfully).

magnificent finds: seckel pears and watercress.

i was ready to make things. coffee. a salad of watercress, tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella. oven-baked yukon gold potatoes with garlic and olive oil. and baked eggs with oregano, basil, salt, and pepper. i hadn't made baked eggs in a long time, and i overcooked them a bit so they were harder than i wanted them to be. but so very good.

and seckel pears, of course. it's an addiction.
thank you, tina, for the introduction.

still eating.

the cauliflower continues to be firm and edible. so, i am still consuming it. it's killing me. it's SO MUCH cauliflower. last night, i sauteed it with garlic and onion, added some yellow chard, and mixed it all with fresh, organic tomatoes and aborio rice. it was a version of my meal from 2 nights ago.

cauliflower and broccoli sauteed with garlic and chard and organic tomato sauce (that i bought in the bodega! carroll gardens is fancy like that.) and aborio rice, i think. not as bad as it looks.

early and dark.

i didn't mean to get so far behind. the weather continues to confuse me, as it's dark seemingly all of the time. then, the lamp broke in my room and it was, in fact, very dark, all of the time.

a register of articles and interesting phenomena. appurtenances? maybe.

• the pancake project. a guy in las vegas makes characters out of his breakfasts, usually pancakes. BUT, he made a waffle space invader! and you know i love space invaders.
• twitter is really helpful for finding other people who care about the same things you do and, in my case, that means food policy: sustainability, whole foods, small farms, organic and pesticide free vegetables. here's a good list of people to follow that do, too. (in addition to me, obviously.)
• jobs i want: farm to school consultant AND cookshop classroom associate. i am actually qualified for the second one. it's so awesome. i mean, someone would pay me to talk to kids about food and cooking?
• oh yeah, and apparently, kids eat less junk food when middle schools stop providing it. there had to be a study done to figure out this information? ugh! well, as long as new programming is created, even if it is a dumb, expensive study.